Saving You, Villain - Chapter 96

At that moment, I should have perished. Leaving Camian behind like that, all alone… while I, by myself… came back.

“No… no, please…!”

A dreadful feeling strangled my throat. It was the worst. I cried for a long time. A pain worse than death pierced through my body. Ahh…

***

Four seasons had passed since I returned as Heewon Lee. Time, which was supposed to be a cure-all, hadn’t healed my depression. I was still stuck in the day I had stabbed my throat and tried to take my own life.

“Look, look! I told you to eat properly. All the side dishes I made have gone bad.”

My mother, who had given birth to Heewon Lee, clicked her tongue as she opened the fridge in my one-room apartment. I sat on the small two-seater sofa, smiling bitterly.

“That’s why I told you not to bring any more side dishes. I only order delivery now, and I don’t cook at home anymore.”

But contrary to my words, the trash can was empty, devoid of any signs of life. My mom knew I was lying, but she didn’t press me on it. She was trying not to touch my depression.

Since I returned as Heewon Lee, all my emotions and desires had withered away. During the first month, I cried as if I would collapse from exhaustion. After being taken to the emergency room due to actual dehydration, my mom began taking me to a psychiatrist.

But I could never share my story with the doctor. Who would take seriously my tales of living in another dimension, or that I had died and been revived multiple times? They’d just treat me as a delusional patient. The psychiatric treatment wasn’t helping, but I continued going for my mom’s sake.

Mom, who used to visit my place maybe once a year, now came every week. She would ride the bus for four hours, open my fridge, scold me, and fill it with new side dishes. No matter how many times I told her not to, she wouldn’t listen.

“Come home sometime, it’ll do you good.”

“……”

I didn’t answer her suggestion. Home suffocated me. The thought of having to pretend everything was fine so my family wouldn’t worry was too overwhelming. Forcing a smile, pretending to eat properly, and acting like I had any enthusiasm for life—all of it crushed me.

I understood my mom’s concern. How could she not worry, fearing her daughter might be found dead one morning?

Gathering what little energy I had left, I forced a bright smile.

“I’ll take care of myself this time and eat the home-cooked meals.”

My mom looked at me quietly. As a strange silence passed, the sound of a phone ringing filled the room. She broke eye contact to check the caller ID.

“Oh, Heewon’s dad? Yes, I’m with Heewon.”

My dad had come to pick her up. I mouthed the words, “Tell him I’m sleeping.” My mom, though displeased, complied with my request. After finishing the call, she picked up her empty side dish bag and turned to me with a final word of advice.

“Don’t stay inside all the time. Walk around the nearby park or something. And call your sister more often.”

“I got it. Dad’s waiting, so you’d better hurry. There’s nowhere good to park around here.”

“Alright, alright.”

Click. The door shut, and the sound of the lock turning signaled the return of endless silence. I turned off all the lights in the room, curling up in the darkness. Though I couldn’t sleep, I closed my eyes deliberately, desperately hoping I could meet Camian in my dreams.

***

Camian

The smell of blood hung thick in the air, and the scattered flesh throughout the lecture hall heightened the terror. With a loud pop, like a party balloon bursting, bones shattered, and intestines tore apart, leaving what was once Luke Florence completely unrecognizable. Camian had ripped Luke to pieces.

And yet, he held Liv’s cold, rigid body in his arms as if she were precious, kissing her and whispering words of love. He pried open the corpse’s mouth, exploring its insides, forcing her pale hand to grasp his cheek. Camian had felt every second of Liv’s death and despaired.

No matter how desperately he called Liv’s name, how hard he shook her, her indifferent eyelids remained closed. Something had gone terribly wrong. Just one more full moon. He only needed to make it through one more, and everything would’ve been fine. His heart raced wildly, making it hard to breathe, and tears flowed relentlessly down his cheeks.

“Liv, please, just look at me.”

The torn flesh around Liv’s pale throat dangled loosely. Camian kissed the wound, sobbing. Imagining the pain and fear she must have felt as she slit her own throat shattered him.

Even while holding Liv’s ice-cold body, Camian couldn’t accept that she was gone. It felt like he was trapped in a horrible nightmare.

He kissed her blood-drained, pallid face, repeatedly telling himself it couldn’t be true.

“Liv.”

“……”

“Liv, answer me.”

Laugh out loud and tell me this is just a joke. Tease me for looking so scared, and then comfort me, asking why I’d cry over something like this.

“I was wrong. Just once… Just once, look at me, Liv. Stop this kind of joke already.”

Camian brushed aside Liv’s blood-soaked hair, whispering desperately. But her lifeless lips remained silent.

In his mind, all the moments he’d fought with Liv came rushing back like karma.

“Are you really going to talk to me like that? I said I could wash myself! I hate having you meddle in everything!”

“Try doing that, and I’ll kill myself too.”

“Why should I not go if you tell me to? Who do you think you are? Don’t order me around!”

The cutting words Liv had thrown at him crashed down like thunder. All the obsessive actions he’d justified in the name of protecting her had turned into his sins. Camian believed this was his belated judgment. That it was his fault Liv had left him. Just when he’d been filled with hope, with only one full moon left to go, she had abandoned him like this.

“If you open your eyes, I’ll do anything. I’ll give up my stubbornness that you always hated, I’ll live as your servant for life. Even if you meet other men, I won’t dare be jealous. For your birthday, I’ll… anything you give me…”

Camian’s vision blurred. As Liv’s face became a hazy, distorted image, he hurriedly rubbed his eyes with bloodied hands to clear them. His desperate, meaningless pleas continued for a long, agonizing stretch. After all that begging, all that remained in his arms was her cold, rigid corpse.

No matter how much he refused to accept it, he had to acknowledge it—he had failed again.

The world reflected in his bloodshot eyes was pitch black. Camian slowly looked around, and wherever his eerie gaze passed, people screamed silently. Just a few hours earlier, they had been casually chatting in the lecture hall, but now, faced with a murderous being threatening their lives, they were overwhelmed with shock and terror.

At that moment, with a loud crash, one wall of the lecture hall crumbled. A thick cloud of dust rose over the pile of rubble.

“Damn it.”

Through the oval-shaped hole in the wall, Rainer appeared. He surveyed the gruesome scene—Camian sitting amid the scattered body parts and pools of blood, cradling Liv—and wiped his face in despair.

“The Celestials have taken Celiana.”

Rainer’s eyes gleamed with fury as he stormed towards Camian, his long legs covering the distance in an instant. He grabbed Camian by the collar with both hands.

“I told you to stay put until Celiana’s support arrived…!”

Rainer, consumed with uncontrollable rage, stopped short when he saw Camian’s face.

Camian’s eyes, dark as the deepest void, were as empty as those of the dead.

“…Rainer.”

“……”

“Liv is dead.”

Camian’s face was drenched in tears. Rainer, who had been consumed by fear that he might lose Celiana, suddenly found himself at a loss, seeing his son’s face like this for the first time. He quickly pulled away from Camian, as if he’d seen something he shouldn’t have.

‘Did he always look like that every time someone died?’

Neither Rainer nor Celiana had ever taught Camian about the emotion of sadness. Even if he cried, he was never supposed to understand what that feeling stemmed from. Yet now, Camian knew all too well why he was crying. Sadness, agony, regret, despair… A whirlwind of negative emotions raged inside him.

Rainer found it unbelievable that Camian could experience such a spectrum of emotions. He hadn’t believed it when Camian said he loved someone, but seeing him consumed by these feelings made it even more surreal.

Celiana had raised Camian to be a weapon specialized in killing, not a being capable of such deep human emotions.

‘Celiana… we’ve failed. We never should have let Camian get involved with that human woman.’

For their own reasons, both demons were now screaming inside.

***

Soon after, Celiana was executed by the gods in the Celestial Realm. Despite the chaos, the Demon Realm struggled to maintain order. The throne of the Demon Realm could only be claimed through sheer strength, without the need for political strife.

Though it was a somewhat barbaric system, strength was the only way to govern the demons, who lacked concepts like morality or ethics. They instinctively revered and followed the strongest.

While the Demon Realm’s throne was not inherited, Camian was the strongest being in the realm, so it was only natural that he should succeed Celiana. But Camian held no attachment to the Demon Realm, which had locked him away in a lab with no sunlight from the moment he was born. He wouldn’t have cared if the Demon Realm fell apart overnight.

Camian’s entire world revolved around Liv.

And so, before choosing to take his own life, Camian decided to make one final desperate attempt.